Strove vs Continuous

[rCOSIO]

***STROBE is what I meant up there ^, sorry***

Sorry if I am repeating a questions guys, but wanted to updated my small home studio. I currently been using a couple of strobe's with umbrella's and even my 430's with remotes, but wanted to upgrade a bit ....

This would be for a small home studio for portraits, either headshots or just some random fashion small photoshoots.

My questions is, what should I upgrade to:

Continuous Lighting w/Softbox OR Strobe's w/Softbox

Thank You!

 

[bigtwinky]

If its for a home studio, I'd stay with the strobe concept and get some flash heads that have modeling lamps, something like Bowens, Elinchrom and so on

 

[rCOSIO]

Thanks for the reply, if you dont mind me asking ... why do you recomend strobe's aposed to continuous lighinting?

 

[ghache]

continuous ligning create so much heat.

 

[Big Mike]

The problem with continuous lighting, is that you are reliant on the shutter speed as part of your exposure equation. If you are shooting static subjects with a static camera, then it isn't a problem...but if you are shooting subjects that might move, or you want to shoot hand held, then you need to be mindful of the shutter speed, if you want to avoid blur and maximize the sharpness of the photos.

In order to get decent shutter speeds (with continuous lighting), you will likely need to use either very large apertures, rather high ISO or pretty powerful lights. Using large apertures is OK (if you have the lenses for it) but you won't always want to have a shallow DOF that comes with it. Using high ISO settings isn't ideal because of the digital noise. And using bright lights will often mean a lot of heat, which can be uncomfortable for you & the model, not to mention a possible hazard.

Using strobes can solve most of those problems. Because it's a very short burst of light, you don't need to use the shutter speed to freeze movement. Usually resulting in crisp photos.
And as long as your lights are powerful enough, you can use smaller apertures and low ISO. And while a hard working studio strobe will generate heat, it shouldn't be enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

 

[rCOSIO]

continuous ligning create so much heat.

Thanks for reminding me ... I forgot about this!

 

[rCOSIO]

The problem with continuous lighting, is that you are reliant on the shutter speed as part of your exposure equation. If you are shooting static subjects with a static camera, then it isn't a problem...but if you are shooting subjects that might move, or you want to shoot hand held, then you need to be mindful of the shutter speed, if you want to avoid blur and maximize the sharpness of the photos.

In order to get decent shutter speeds (with continuous lighting), you will likely need to use either very large apertures, rather high ISO or pretty powerful lights. Using large apertures is OK (if you have the lenses for it) but you won't always want to have a shallow DOF that comes with it. Using high ISO settings isn't ideal because of the digital noise. And using bright lights will often mean a lot of heat, which can be uncomfortable for you & the model, not to mention a possible hazard.

Using strobes can solve most of those problems. Because it's a very short burst of light, you don't need to use the shutter speed to freeze movement. Usually resulting in crisp photos.
And as long as your lights are powerful enough, you can use smaller apertures and low ISO. And while a hard working studio strobe will generate heat, it shouldn't be enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

Awsome response. Thanks Big Mike. I'll go get some strobes and give my Canon 430's a rest for a while lol.

 

[rCOSIO]

Last question guys ....

What's a decent light for the background, kinda to wash out the white to assist in less post work? Anything in-expensive that works?

 

[c.cloudwalker]

For a home studio I would seriously consider the Alien Bees. They are cheap and quite decent so that if you ever get more serious, they could still be used in a better studio. They also have the Einstein now although they are sold under a different name and I don't know anything about them.

The problem with continuous lights is that, as their other name suggests (Hot Lights) they get hot. Which means so does the model and modeling is hard enough without getting hot. And in a pro studio they are not economically advantageous. Their electricity use over time will cost you more than the price difference to go to strobes.

But if you shoot very little in your studio, and mostly for fun, why not just use flash units? The Strobist way. I don't often recommend that way to go because it just doesn't look professional (and I believe that makes a big difference in how your business is seen) and I also don't see the point of having a bag full of flash units if you're trying to go pro since they are not designed for heavy use as in a studio environment.

Other than that, flash units can be had used for next to nothing if you shop in the right places so you could get quite a few of them (plus their stand and light modifiers) for the price of 1 strobe.

 

[Derrel]

For low-cost background lights that will illuminate gray paper and boost it to white, something simple like the Morris slave strobes will work. Two of them, one on each side of the paper, would be nice to have. I think something from Morris might be exactly what you are after. These units have been produced for literally decades. I am surprised that they have never taken off, but then again, the company does not promote its products worth a damn, nor do they sponsor any photographers...

"Photo Platter": Morris Mini Slave

Here is a page from a really great USA brick and mortar and web-based store, Tallyn's, that shows information on the whole line of Morris flash units.

Tallyn's Professional Photographic - MORRIS SLAVE STROBES

 

[Alpha]

The best advice I can give is to use the search function.